exhibition + lectures + publications
Designed by arc en rêve, constellation.s is a project devoted to new ways of living in the world.
In spring 2016, it will take the form of a major exhibition, a series or lectures, and a number of publications.
In response to the worldwide transformations that are profoundly affecting the conditions in which we live, constellation.s will present individual and collective initiatives providing perspectives on tomorrow’s challenges in terms of how the urban environment is made.
In response to fear, inward-lookingness, and extremism, constellation.s encourages critical thinking to help us understand the world we live in.
In response to a rising tide of images, words, and spectacle, constellation.s focuses on creativity and the ways ordinary people invent their daily lives.
We must never forget that the primary purpose of architecture is to provide people with places to live. Moreover, as we know, the crisis we are experiencing is not merely economic and social. It is also, and above all, a political, ecological and cultural crisis that is transforming our civilization. This is why it is vital to place culture and knowledge at the heart of issues relating to citizenship and democracy, so that we can light the way to the future for our societies.
Scattered around the world, we see practices emerging that challenge and undermine old certainties. Strategies that integrate instability and uncertainty; strategies that embrace both the tangible and the intangible; strategies that offer new functions and production methods for architecture.? It is these micro-phenomena, this constellation of micro-initiatives, that the exhibition, the lectures and the publications are intended to highlight.
Fifteen years ago, the exhibition entitled MUTATIONS – created by arc en rêve in Bordeaux and designed in association with Rem Koolhaas as part of the year 2000 celebrations, explored the phenomenon of rapid urbanisation under the twin effects of economic globalisation and the globalisation of information.
Today, constellation.s is intended to encourage careful thinking to render new conditions for human habitation intelligible; it focuses on initiatives that take the risk of making the future meaningful; and it shares processes of innovation capable of showing us new ways of living in the world.